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In issue 18 of esPResso...

PORK INDUSTRY HAS PR CHALLENGE AS PIG FLU STORY SPREADS
It's not often we report on articles from the pork trade press in esPResso, but the global pork industry is bracing itself for the PR challenge that has been unleashed by the fact the world at large has decided to call the flu epidemic that kicked off in Mexico recently "swine flu" or, more colloquially, "pig flu".

American-based Pork magazine points out that the new strand of the flu virus is actually "a multiple reassortant" combining "genetic material from human influenza, avian influenza as well as swine influenza viruses". But it recognises that, because the virus is being widely reported as "swine flu", it will be the pig industry that could suffer, even though, as the magazine points out, the US Center For Disease Control And Prevention has officially said: "Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe".

All of which means that, as well as trying to stop the spread of the disease among pigs, the pork industry also needs to instigate a communications inititiative to safeguard the consumer end of their industry, to ensure supermarket customers don't steer clear of pig meats because of a negative association with the flu outbreak.

In Australia, the pork industry's trade body has already issued a 'pork is safe' media release, which states: "The global concern with so-called swine flu has been declared as not being a food-borne safety issue. Consumers should also realise that swine flu is a disease that does not exist in Australian pigs". The release presents data from the country's own Veterinary Association and the World Health Organisation backing up its claims, and the body says it will add a special swine flu section on its website to reassure consumers.

In America, though, some commentators think the pig industry there needs to do more as panic about the disease dominates the headlines. One PR strategist writing for the StarTribune in Minneapolis, Matt Burns, says that the aforementioned statement from the Center For Disease Control is not getting heard amid all the media hype around the Mexican outbreak and the chances, or not, of it spreading North of the border.

Burns observes: "The US pork industry produces more than $21 billion in personal income and adds $34.5 billion to our country's gross national product. That's some serious bacon, which is why pork producers need to take a much more aggressive approach than we're seeing to combat the public relations crisis they have on their hands – and pigs feet". You can read what he proposes here.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what impact the pig flu story has on the European pork industry, where the story continues to dominate the headlines despite the flu outbreak being, as yet, predominantly confined to the other side of the world. Certainly few of those headlines have, so far, been used to encourage British meat eaters to continue buying pork.

OBAMA AND BLOOMBERG ADOPT "DIDN'T KNOW" APPROACH TO NEW YORK FLY OVER OUTRAGE
Back to America, and Team Obama had a tricky political PR challenge to deal with earlier this week, after the people who look after the President's fleet of planes organised a publicity stunt that backfired.

For reasons no one is clear on, the Federal Aviation Administration decided they needed a picture of an Air Force One plane flying past the Statue Of Liberty for use in publicity materials. Rather than Photoshop such an image, they got one of the Boeing 747s in the Presidential fleet and two jet fighters to fly at a low height over Manhatten, photographing it as it went by, at a cost to the taxpayer of $328,835.

Rather than turning the photoshoot into an albeit expensive PR event in itself, they informed the relevant authorities about their plans in advance, but requested no one go public about them, possibly for security reasons. That decision, though, predictably back fired because the people of New York are, understandably, nervous of any large aircraft flying over their city at a low height.

As emergency phone lines became blocked as panicked New Yorkers saw the planes approach, the city's media was quick to question who was behind the photo stunt, and why the public had not been warned of the plans. Media criticism became even more intense once the cost of the photo shoot was revealed.

Local and national political leaders were quick to respond, both going with a "we didn't know, it shouldn't have happened, we're sorry" strategy, which looks like it might just have worked.

Obama's people were quick to release a statement telling reporters the president had not himself been informed about the fly over before it happened, while a spokesman for New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said that his office had been told about the FAA's plans but that because of an oversight the mayor himself was not informed.

Obama said "It was a mistake ... and it will not happen again", while a spokesman for the Pentagon told reporters: "I think this is one of those rare cases where we can all agree it was a mistake".

Whether New York's media will let this one lie as "an expensive mistake" remains to be seen. Let's just hope the FAA got some great pictures.

As a former Head Of Comms at the UK Treasury you'd normally expect McBride to find a senior PR job quite quickly, and given his high level links in government a well paid advisor role at one of the bigger public affairs agencies would usually make most sense.

However, it comes as no surprise that, given the circumstances of his departure – being caught planning a dirty tricks campaign to discredit senior Tories, mainly through the publication of scurrilous rumours on a new website – few consultancies are lining up to negotiate terms.

PR Week report that the public affairs agency bosses they spoke to "laughed off" the idea of hiring McBride, with the response of Hanover Communications MD Charles Lewington being typical: "I am loathed to kick a man when he is down but he demonstrated a clear lack of judgment and professionalism. I fear his reputation is so badly damaged that only a long period building churches in Rwanda will restore it".

Of course, despite the PR challenge of being seen to employ someone at the centre of a political scandal, McBride remains very well connected, and some cynics might say that while agency chiefs laugh at the suggestion of hiring the disgraced number ten man now, some job offers may come forward once the media coverage of his emails dies down.

Though some insiders also point out that while the result of next year's General Election remains too close to call, few will be willing to buy into McBride's contacts network, which may not be so useful if the very politicians he tried to discredit are in power come next summer.

WILL FORMER CITY PEOPLE FIND WORK IN FINANCIAL COMMS?
Away from politics, and into the City, and an interesting report on eFinancialCareers considering the state of the finanical PR sector in the current economic climate. With few flotations to be communicated, and with budgets being cut across the City, they wondered if those agencies who specialise in financial communications were themselves suffering. And whether individual financial PR specialists were finding that there were not only less jobs, but more competition, as unemployed bankers consider a switch to comms.

The boss of one financial PR firm, however, said that a recession in itself posed a number of communication challenges that would occupy agencies like his while flotation and merger projects were few and far between. Angus Maitland of Maitland Communications, told the website: "The IPO [flotation] side of the business has all but disappeared, and M&A work is well down, but there have been a number of rights issues and restructurings, plus there's a need for PR associated with companies in difficult situations. In this sense, this kind of market does produce opportunities for financial PR firms".

Nevertheless, headcount is down at a number of the bigger financial comms companies, making competition for investor relations and financial PR jobs that bit fiercer. As a result, it is not necessarily an easy area for those previously employed elsewhere in the City to break into just at the moment. Leila Reuter of UnicornJobs.com's sister company Taylor Bennett told eFinancialCareers that she gets up to 30 CVs a week from former City people looking to move into communications, but that many will find there are few jobs available, and that many employers may consider former bankers over priced.

She concluded: "Senior financial communications people don't necessarily move jobs every two minutes and a lot of IR people are recruited from within the business".

FINANCIAL PR NEEDS TO BETTER EMBRACE DIGITAL
Staying with financial communications, and a recent survey reckons that financal PR people are increasingly failing to engage the media because of their failure to embrace new digital communication tools.

The survey, by financial PR firm Broadgate, questioned 76 journalists about the way companies communicate their business and financial messages, and 85% of those surveyed said that a lack of digital engagement lost firms key media coverage.

PR Week quote Broadgate director Roland Cross as follows: "Financial services firms operate in a highly regulated sector and have to deal with many compliance issues, so they have tended not to sell directly through the internet. But that does not mean they should not embrace the ability to communicate with [stakeholders] via digital channels".

Among the weaknesses identified by journalists were a failure to update online press releases, a lack of contact information on company websites, and an excessive use of passwords protecting non-sensitive data that prevented media people from accessing required information.

Of course Innocent wouldn't be the first brand conceived as a more ethical, more organic or more rebellious 'antidote' to established corporate-owned rivals to then be bought and consumed by one of those corporates. And with all the best will in the world, the more ethical, organic or rebellious practices of the 'antidote brand' are often watered down once affiliated to a bigger parent firm, even though it is those practices that make the antidote brand worth acquiring in the first place.

The degree to which that happens depends a lot on the investment deal, of course, and the level of influence the investor gains. But even if the investor has a minority stake and takes a hands-off approach, when you have any investment from a company like Coke the creators of the antidote brand need to be aware of the PR implications the simple presence of their new backers may have on public perception.

Innocent co-founder Richard Reed told the Guardian recently that the financial boost Coke's investment will bring will actually let his company do all the things that the Innocent brand has become associated with on a grander scale. He told the paper: "Every promise that Innocent has made, about making only natural healthy products, pioneering the use of better, socially and environmentally aware ingredients, packaging and production techniques, donating money to charity and having a point of view on the world will remain. We'll just get to do them even more. The founders will continue to lead and run the company, we will be the same people in the same offices making the same products in the same way".

Some Innocent fans may fear that the drinks range they love may go the way of PJ Smoothies, a former market leader in the British smoothies market which fell some way behind newer rivals after they were bought by PepsiCo in 2005, before finally being scrapped late last year. Though, of course, Coke have only invested in Innocent, they haven't actually bought it, so the comparison is possibly not valid.

Craig Sams, the founder of the Green & Black's organic chocolate brand, which has continued to enjoy both credibility and success in the organic market despite Cadbury acquiring it in 2005, says that antidote brands can succeed within major corporations, benefiting from bigger budgets while hanging on to their independent firm values. However, on a communications point, he advises Coke to avoid the temptation to stamp its brand all over Innocent products, or to integrate the UK drink's marketing with that of its US smoothie range Odwalla. If they do, he says, they will be in danger of destroying the independent brand they have paid so much to be part of.

The good news for Innocent fans is that Reed assures the Guardian that his new investors have no intention, for the time being at least, to 'Coke-ify' his smoothie brand which, he says, will continue to be operated by a standalone company.

Shortly after the ads started to air there were a number of media reports of musicians who applied for insurance from the company only to be knocked back because of their profession. Musicians, you see, smash up too many hotel rooms to be worth insuring.

The insurer has since introduced a package for musicians, but when the ad campaign began they did not offer such a product. Following twelve complaints, possibly from musicians who had been knocked back by the insurer, the ASA investigated and ruled this week that the advert would lead "some viewers to believe the policy covered those who worked in entertainment, when it did not". Pop, the Authority confirmed, is not himself insured by the AXA Group owned online insurer.

The ruling is perhaps a little too late given that, as we said, and presumably because of the negative coverage that followed the launch of the Pop campaign, Swiftcover have now introduced a package for music types. Something which, it says, few of its competitors currently offer.

A spokesman for the insurer added that their choice of Iggy Pop for the campaign wasn't influenced by his rock star status, but more his reputation for having a "fast-living lifestyle". The company claims that it's online service provides faster insurance cover than that offered by traditional insurers.

"The blogosphere and twittersphere is rife with journalists, PROs and members of the public identifying and publicising errors of judgement made by companies and PROs. It's argued that by drawing attention to 'PR fails' we can as an industry learn from these mistakes and collectively raise our game.

One website that serves to draw attention to bad PR practices is PRfail.tumblr.com. The site was setup nearly a year ago by Jonathan Hopkins to aggregate examples of bad PR highlighted on websites such as Twitter, which sees many users attach the #PRfail hashtag to their tweets.

The site now features plenty of PROs who have pointed our mistakes made by their peers or by the companies they represent, but is this wise?

If I were to criticise a company's mistake on my blog or on Twitter, Google would automatically connect my name and the name of the company I work for to the name of the company I badmouthed. So if I or the company I work for were to then pitch for a PR brief by that company it would only take a quick search of those names, for example Nike and Speed Communications, to bring up my blog post or my tweets in the first few results. I'm pretty sure that digging up old mistakes that a potential client would rather forget, is probably not the best way to make a good impression.

That said, identifying a 'PR fail' and offering a solution as to how the company might have dealt with that crisis more effectively could demonstrate expertise. Though I'm not sure how much expertise you can demonstrate when you've already used up 7 characters of your 140 character tweet with a #PRfail hashtag!

My mind's not totally made up on this. Do you think we should be more careful about what we say online or use our freedom of speech to highlight bad PR in an effort to separate the wheat from the chaff?"

See what Matthew's readers thought, and share you own opinions, on the actual blog post here

From StuartBruce.biz: Defending LabourList, knocking the smears about RedRag

"As a public relations and social media specialist I've had lots of people asking me to comment on the Red Rag blog and Damian McBride's resignation. I've resisted the temptation to become a 'rent-a-gob' in the media and haven't yet responded to those who've emailed me and direct messaged me on Twitter. I thought I'd wait until the dust had settled, but as it doesn't appearing to be settling I might as well have my two pennarth now.

First up I'm not going to be an apologist for Damian McBride. He was totally and utterly wrong to send the emails he did. It was right for him to go, but wrong for him to have been given the opportunity to resign. If what he did wasn't gross misconduct then the special adviser contracts need to be redrawn. He should have been sacked. That would have sent a far clearer signal from No 10 that this type of behaviour by a special adviser isn't acceptable and wasn't sanctioned by Gordon Brown.

However, it has all been blown up out of all proportion. What McBride did might have been odious, but it is in a long tradition of political smearing. Bernard Ingham as Margaret Thatcher's press secretary did more than his fair share of smearing. The Tories under Cameron aren't as squeaky clean as he'd like you to think. You'd have to be incredibly naive or stupid not to believe leaking sleaze isn't part of Andy Coulson's strategy.

So what should happen now? What shouldn't happen is that Labour retreats bruised and battered from the blogosphere".

Read Stuart's recommendations for what Labour should do now in the full blog here.

	Just one big question - where next?
	Well, all the best American TV shows have a clips episode from time to time, and this is ours. Not that Ask The Unicorn is an American TV show, but surely it's only a matter of time before the concept is snapped up by Fox or HBO. But with an increasing number of PR people reviewing their career options in the context of the current economic climate, we thought it would be useful to revisit some past Ask The Unicorn columns, because that big career question - "where next" - is always a lot easier when you break it down to lots of smaller questions. So, here goes... How do you job hunt in a recession? Will there be any opportunities for junior PR people in the recession, and what can you do to make yourself stand out from the crowd? Answer here How do I find find the right jobs? Some tips on looking at job ads, and picking the right ones for you. Answer here Are my PR skills any use in a marketing job? Perhaps you want to widen your job search to increase your chances. Are your PR skills of value in sectors other than straight public relations? Answer here What should I be reading? Make yourself more employable, and arm yourself with interesting things to say in interview, by keeping up with the news, PR and media media. Answer here How important is networking? Very important. Find out why and how. Answer here What should I say at job interviews? 10 golden interview rules. Answer here What should I wear? And some tips on interview dress codes. Answer here What if I have to give a presentation? 10 tips on how to give the perfect presentation. Answer here How do I discuss salary? This is always a tricky one. Here's some advice. Answer here What will it mean if I go freelance? If this is something you're seriously considering, here is an outline of the pros and cons of being a freelancer to help you decide if it's right for you. Answer here What is I am aiming for the very top? That's the spirit, don't let the gloomy economy hamper your ambitions. Here's some tips for anyone planning (PR) world domination. Answer here

If you have a PR or careers-related question, Ask The Unicorn at info@unicornjobs.com

This weekend sees the launch of the 2009 Brighton Festival, a three week programme of theatre, music, art, dance and literary talks staged in venues across Brighton. It's one of the UK's biggest and most established cultural festivals, and with a Fringe, art festival and music convention running alongside it, Brighton really is one of the most exciting places to be in May.

Getting the main Brighton Festival up and running is a big task, and there's a year round team of people that make it happen. PR is, of course, an important part of that. Shelley Bennett is the Brighton Festival's Press & PR Manager, and we spoke to her to find out what communicating a major cultural festival involves, and to get the lowdown on a career in arts PR.

For those that don't know about it, tell us about the Brighton Festival.
Brighton Festival is England's leading mixed arts festivals. This is the 43rd year it's been running, and we have the incredible Turner winning artist Anish Kapoor as our Guest Artistic Director. He's worked with our a new Chief Executive, Andrew Comben, to take the festival to a whole new level this year. There is an outstanding programme of over 110 events over the 23 days, including 11 free outdoor events and 26 premieres and exclusives. Full programme details are on our website www.brightonfestival.org.

What does being Press & PR Manager for the Brighton Festival involve?
It primarily involves dealing with all national, international and regional press, including broadcast and web. It principally involves talking to people about specific events: placing interviews, organising previews and reviews, allocating press tickets, setting up launch events and then collating everything generated. The press office also produces podcasts for our website, a 10-minute film for the launch of the Festival, several printed supplements and a million other things that crop up.

How does the job differ from festival time to, say, the Autumn when the festival is some way off?
Our company runs the Brighton Dome venue as well as the festival, which means that when I'm not working on the festival itself I'm working on PR campaigns for that instead. Brighton Dome is a three space arts venue which includes the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Pavilion Theatre. Preparations for the Brighton Festival tend to start from November so there's a lot of overlap between the two from then onwards, making the six months from December to the end of May extremely busy!

Find out about more about Shelley's work, and her tips for aspiring arts PRs, by reading the full interview here.